5 months ago
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Andrey Santos says new Chelsea signing Estevao Willian has ‘huge potential’ and is ‘the face of Brazilian football’.
Chelsea have already agreed a deal to sign the 17-year-old from Palmeiras, paying €34 million (£28.7m) up front plus a further €23m (£19.4m) in add-ons.
Estevao will make the move to Chelsea when he turns 18 next year and will arrive at Stamford Bridge alongside Ecuador international Kendry Paez, another highly rated South American midfielder whose £17.5m move to Chelsea was agreed last year.
Neymar has predicted that Estevao will become a ‘genius’ on the pitch for Brazil and Santos has revealed he is already in touch with Chelsea’s new recruit.
‘I spoke to Estevao, if I’m not mistaken, it was when he went to play in Colombia, I had played there the month before and he sent me a message saying, ‘man, I really admire you, how you managed to make a difference here in this climate at this altitude’, and I said, ‘man, it’s difficult but you’re going to make it’,’ Santos said on the Fora do Jogo podcast.
‘Estevao is a kid, I’m a fan of his. He has huge, huge, huge potential.
‘I always spoke about him with my father, I knew he would quickly become a professional because of his quality. I see that he is a focused boy, he has a lot of personality, I think attackers have to have the personality, he is the face of Brazilian football.’
Santos made his own move to Chelsea from Vasco da Gama last year but reveals he pushed to leave Stamford Bridge on loan in order to secure more playing time.
‘Coming from Brazil, football is very different. The intensity is less and abroad it’s absurd, the dynamics of the game are very fast,’ Santos said.
‘The adaptation at Chelsea was good, I did very well in the pre-season, I had a chance of staying but I saw that there was Enzo [Fernandez] and [Moises] Caicedo and I really wanted to play, to have minutes, so I decided together with my family that it was better to go out on loan.
‘The people at Chelsea wanted me to have a little patience but it was better that it was my choice to go out and play.
‘Unfortunately, I didn’t play much at Nottingham Forest, I was fit and willing, but thankfully I went to Strasbourg and managed to show my game to Europe, get the ball rolling. I did well for four months, made a difference and helped the team stay in Ligue 1.’
After thriving on loan at Strasbourg last season, Santos is hoping to convince Enzo Maresca during Chelsea’s pre-season campaign.
Meanwhile, the 20-year-old has praised Chelsea’s decision to turn to South America for recruiting new players.
‘There’s even more now with Estevao and there’s Kendry [Paez] too. Chelsea are doing a lot of good scouting in South America, so soon everyone will be there speaking Spanish!’ Santos said.
‘I think their youth project is a very good one because the team has players for the present and future, young people with experience, Enzo is a world champion, Caicedo is already playing for the national team, you’ve got Reece James, who when I arrived welcomed me very well.’
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